Chocolate: a question of percentages

Master baker and chocolate guru Alice Medrich calls for chocolates with specific cacao percentages, all in an effort to balance flavor and texture. We asked Alice what the percentages mean and why you should care.

问：What exactly are cacao percentages?

A.The cacao percentage on a chocolate bar indicates the percentage of the bar (by weight) that is pure cacao, or cocoa bean. Cocoa beans are composed of cocoa butter (fat) and dry cocoa solids (think fat-free cocoa powder).
Since the best bittersweet and semisweet chocolates are composed almost entirely of cocoa beans (often including some extra cocoa butter) and sugar, with just tiny amounts of optional vanilla and lecithin, the cacao percentage indirectly tells us the sugar content as well: A bar of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate marked 55% cacao therefore contains 45% sugar, while a bar labeled 70% cacao contains 30% sugar.
随着可可百分比的增加，巧克力本身的味道会更加强烈，味道较少。然而，对食谱的影响有些复杂，因为可可百分比会影响质地以及蛋糕和甜点的味道和甜味。

问：Why do these recipes call for chocolates with specific cacao percentages?

A.Not even 10 years ago, most bittersweet and semisweet chocolates available to home cooks contained less than 60% cacao, and most recipes were developed accordingly.
如今，超级市场和专卖店提供的半甜巧克力和苦乐参半的巧克力范围从54％到70％以上。选择令人兴奋，但是具有截然不同的可可百分比的巧克力可以产生根本不同的结果。用明显更高的可可（例如70％而不是54％甚至60％）代替巧克力的作用类似于减去糖并用未加糖的可可粉代替。蛋糕会干燥而易碎，可能会味道苦味，慕斯将具有颗粒状的质地，而甘那刺和调味料几乎可以肯定会凝结。
Since I love the flavor and complexity of modern high-cacao chocolates, I often create recipes specifically for them. To ensure success for the home cook, I always specify chocolates with the cacao percentage (or range of percentages) that will result in the right balance of flavor, texture, and sweetness.

问：Why use chocolates with different percentages in the same dessert?

A.我喜欢在同一甜点中使用各种巧克力元素 - 不仅仅是可可百分比不同的巧克力，还可以使用可可粉或碎巧克力，因为它可以使我以甜度，风味强度和质地形成鲜明对比。

A better way to melt chocolate

The goal of melting chocolate is to make it fluid and warm (or very warm, depending on the recipe) to the touch without overheating or scorching it.

While most recipes call for a double boiler (a bowl set over a pan of simmering water), I much prefer a wide, shallow skillet of water with a stainless-steel bowl of chocolate sitting directly in it. The open bath lets me see and adjust the water if it begins to boil or simmer too actively, whereas the water in a double boiler is usually out of sight and thus trickier to monitor. Just as chocolate in a double boiler will scorch if the cook is inattentive, chocolate in an open bath must also be watched carefully, stirred frequently, and removed from the bath when melted.